Selvitella v. City of South San Francisco, California et al

Filing 92

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' 59 MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON PLAINTIFF'S § 1983 CLAIM. Signed by Judge Claudia Wilken on 5/25/2011. (ndr, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 5/25/2011)

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1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 3 4 JAMES SELVITELLA, 5 6 7 8 9 United States District Court For the Northern District of California 10 11 12 No. C 08-04388 CW Plaintiff, v. CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, et al., ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON PLAINTIFF'S § 1983 CLAIM (Docket No. 59) Defendants and Respondents. ________________________________/ Because the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed this Court's denial of Plaintiff's petition for a writ of mandamus under 13 California Code of Procedure § 1094.5, the Court grants 14 15 16 Defendants' pending motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff's remaining claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. BACKGROUND 17 18 Docket No. 59. Plaintiff and Petitioner James Selvitella sought a writ of 19 mandamus under § 1094.5, in an effort to override the decision by 20 the Personnel Board of the City of South San Francisco to 21 terminate his employment as Battalion Chief of the City's Fire 22 Department. In addition to his petition for a writ of mandamus, 23 24 Plaintiff alleged a claim under § 1983. Defendants and 25 Respondents City of South San Francisco, Personnel Board of the 26 City of South San Francisco, South San Francisco Fire Department, 27 Barry M. Nagel, Marty Van Duyn and Phillip White opposed the 28 1 petition and moved for summary judgment on Plaintiff's § 1983 2 claim. 3 deferred its ruling on Defendants' motion for summary judgment. 4 Accordingly, the Court instructed the clerk to enter a 5 Rule 54(b) judgment against Plaintiff on his § 1094.5 claim and, 6 The Court denied Plaintiff's petition for a writ and after the clerk did so, Plaintiff pursued an appeal before the 7 Ninth Circuit. On March 28, 2011, the Ninth Circuit issued a 8 9 judgment affirming this Court's denial of Plaintiff's petition for United States District Court For the Northern District of California 10 a writ of mandamus under § 1094.5, and on April 19, 2011, the 11 Ninth Circuit's judgment took effect, pursuant to Rule 41(a) of 12 the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. 13 Defendants' motion for summary judgment to resolve Plaintiff's 14 remaining claim under § 1983. The Court now rules on 15 The Court's prior order, denying Plaintiff's petition for a 16 writ, also found that his claim under § 1983 could be barred by 17 18 collateral estoppel given the denial of the writ petition. 19 Court first made a threshold finding that the proceedings before 20 the Personnel Board satisfied the fairness requirements set forth 21 in Utah Construction & Minning Co., 384 U.S. 394 (1966). 22 11-12. 23 The Order at The Court then determined that two of the three requirements for application of collateral estoppel under 24 California law were satisfied. Id. at 12-13. However, the Court 25 26 found that the third requirement--that the first proceeding ended 27 with a final judgment on the merits--was not fulfilled because its 28 decision on the § 1094.5 claim would not be a final judgment on 2 1 the merits until an appeal from the Court's judgment had been 2 exhausted or the time to appeal expired. 3 discovery and a full jury trial on the § 1983 claim without 4 waiting for a final judgment on the § 1094.5 claim risked 5 unnecessarily wasting the parties' and the Court's resources, the 6 Because proceeding to Court held that entry of judgment, pursuant to Federal Rule of 7 Civil Procedure 54(b), solely on the § 1094.5 claim was warranted. 8 9 As noted earlier, after the clerk entered judgment on the § 1094.5 United States District Court For the Northern District of California 10 claim, Plaintiff pursued an appeal that was ultimately 11 unsuccessful. 12 13 14 CONCLUSION Given that Plaintiff exhausted his appeal and this Court's judgment denying his § 1094.5 claim is now final, the third 15 requirement for application of collateral estoppel to the 16 remaining § 1983 claim has been satisfied. Accordingly, the Court 17 18 GRANTS summary judgment on Plaintiff's § 1983 claim in favor of 19 Defendants. 20 Defendants on Plaintiff's § 1983 claim. 21 their own costs. Docket No. 59. The clerk shall enter judgment for The parties shall bear 22 IT IS SO ORDERED. 23 24 Dated: 25 5/25/2011 CLAUDIA WILKEN United States District Judge 26 27 28 3

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